Ontario Landlord Add-ons Pair: House Rules Sheet + First-Message Screening Guide

Both v1.1 add-ons for the Ontario Small Landlord Toolkit, together for CA$12 (save CA$2).

Renting a room in your house? Clear house rules prevent most shared-kitchen arguments. But some common rules are void in Ontario, or cross the Human Rights Code: "no guests", "no pets", "landlord may enter at any time", fines, "no strong-smelling cooking".

This 3-page PDF gives you:

- Page 1: which law applies to your room (the RTA usually doesn't apply if the renter shares a kitchen or bathroom with you as the owner), a "What you can't put in house rules" box, and wording swaps ("Instead of… write…").

- Page 2: the template. Nineteen rules with blanks and tick boxes, plus a signature block. Print it or fill it in on screen.

- Page 3: guidance notes explaining each rule, with links to ontario.ca, Tribunals Ontario and the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Give the same sheet to every renter before they sign. Not legal advice. Not affiliated with the Government of Ontario or the LTB.

Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace room ads bring in a lot of one-line messages. This guide helps you answer every one of them quickly and the same way, without asking anything you shouldn't.

Inside (4-page PDF):

- A 3-step first-message routine: the same opener for everyone, sorting by how complete the reply is (not by profile), and batched viewings.

- What you can and can't ask: a two-column table based on the OHRC's rental housing policy and O. Reg. 290/98, including why "tell me where you work" is a problem.

- 7 copy-paste replies: "Is this available?", a nudge, viewing times, the "I can't consider that" reply, money before a viewing, a quiet-lead follow-up, and the room-is-taken close.

- Scam red flags in both directions: from fake renters, and the things that make your honest ad look like a scam.

- A viewing-booking script: a booking message, a day-before reminder, the same 8-step order at every viewing, and safety tips.

- An inquiry log: objective facts only, so you can show you treated everyone the same way.

Sources linked: OHRC, ontario.ca, Tribunals Ontario, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Not legal advice.